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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26475631">Consecration</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/omegawere/pseuds/omegawere'>omegawere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Sundered Planes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons &amp; Dragons (Roleplaying Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:41:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26475631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/omegawere/pseuds/omegawere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A downtime activity that happened between two d&amp;d sessions, where my character Rae helped her new ward come to terms with the death of a good friend of his.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Sundered Planes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787719</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Consecration</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rae was quiet as she took the tin altar box from her pack and placed it on the already half-broken table that sat in the small hallway. Popping open the tin she began pulling the components from inside. A number of small white candles, a sachet filled with pearls of incense, a small silver censer on a short chain, and a wide array of vials and bags each filled with a component different in texture, color, and material. She muttered to herself under her breath as she counted and kept track of her supplies; organizing the materials needed for the rites while returning anything unnecessary back into the tin.</p>
<p>Trasst sat atop a wooden storage crate he had moved into the hallway, one leg dangling off the edge while the other was tucked under the opposite thigh. He fidgeted with his dagger restlessly; moving it between his hands, feeling the weight of the blade, lightly tapping the tip of the knife into the soft wood of the box he sat on. His eyes, red and puffy, stung from tears as he stared at an empty point in the room. His attention remained unfocused, his mind drawn elsewhere as Rae set up the supplies for the ritual.<br/>
It didn’t take very long before another sudden wave of emotion washed over Trasst, his eyes once again turning to the eight bodies laying neatly in two rows on the hallway floor. His chest tightened and that painful lump returned to his throat as he tried to hold back tears. Even in the dim light of the single sconce on the wall he could still identify the long-dead faces of his co-workers and friends. Most of them were desiccated and rotten, only kept together by the unnatural state of undeath. Despite this, their identifying features were still clearly visible, still very much themselves to those that knew them. His hands suddenly stung with the remembrance of the dagger he held. The dagger that took part in laying these people to rest, putting down his friends for the second time. His eyes float back to the weapon which had been tinged with any number of putrid substances and dark liquids from the undead bodies. Trasst feels his stomach turn as he slips the dagger back into its sheath on his hip, thinking of how he will have to clean it sometime soon before the blade begins to dull.<br/>
He can’t help but turn his gaze to the rightmost of the bodies. Volkan. His friend, his mentor, and the only one in this damned place that really believed in his dreams and ambitions. He didn’t treat Trasst like some senseless kid with a pipedream that would never happen. Volkan saw the potential in him, knew that he could make something of himself. He was the closest thing to family the halfling had.<br/>
And now he was gone.</p>
<p>Volkan’s body lay stiff and lifeless, his visage pale from the curse forced onto him. Despite this, Trasst noticed a sense of peace on Volkan’s face. At least, more peaceful then when he first saw his friend in the doorway; strained but not surprised at the events that unfolded. Trasst saw shame in Volkan's eyes when he first realized it was him, when the vampire admitted to his misdeeds and the harm he inflicted on their cohort.<br/>
His throat gets more painful as he tries to hold back tears, this time failing. He hurries to wipe them from his eyes and push down the grief once again, though with little success. <i>Was it painful?</i> His head began to spin as thoughts filled his mind. <i>Why did it happen to him? Why didn’t he say something to me sooner? I was here, I could have helped him, found some way to fix him.</i> He wipes away tears again. <i>Should I have been in that room when they...? Would he have wanted to see me before dying? I should have been stronger. I couldn’t even speak to him. Why wasn’t I there to help him?</i></p>
<p>Rae fills a small censer with the incense before lighting them with a touch of her fingertips. She walks over and leans down next to the bodies, giving them another look-over before starting preparations. As much as she would like to give each body the attention it properly deserved, there simply was not enough time before the party would need to pack up once again to leave before dawn. Even though focused on her work, she couldn’t help but feel the haze that came with the long day and lack of rest.<br/>
Rae’s fingers began tracing intricate shapes and runes around the bodies which became alight with a dim glow as her fingers passed over the floorboards. To her relief, the smell of the incense quickly began to permeate in the whole of the room as the small orbs burned.</p>
<p>The sudden stinging of his sinuses pulls Trasst’s attention from his mind. He sniffles, this time due to the strange new scent rather than from tears. His attention is quickly drawn to the runes and symbols as they blink into existence with Rae’s spell. He watches her hands move and work in an attempt to keep himself from his own spiraling thoughts once again. After a few moments his own hand began making slight twitches in mimicry as he tried to put the symbols to memory.<br/>
“Do you like doing this?” Trasst’s voice came out with a broken crackle as he spoke. He wiped the remaining tears from his eyes and cleared his throat in an attempt to gather himself once more. The elf’s ears twitch as the sudden voice in the otherwise quiet room. She does not look up from her continued writing on the ground as she spoke, “What? Consecrating the dead? It’s not necessarily a pastime of mine, but I don’t dislike it.”<br/>
“No, no…" his voice, while it still wavered, came out darker this time, "Do you like the fighting… Killing…”<br/>
Rae’s attention is pulled from the writing and her gaze shifts to Trasst. She couldn’t tell if he was asking out of genuine curiosity, or as a question to pass judgment. Trasst shifts his weight as he pulled his knees to his chest, “You really looked like you knew what you were doing in that fight… So I couldn’t help but wonder if…” Rae turns her gaze upwards slightly with a drawn-out sigh to give herself a moment to think. “No… No, I can’t say I do. I don’t look forward to putting myself in danger, or spilling blood. I relish the time I can spend at home not worrying about things like this. But, it is an unfortunate part of my job, and sometimes it is necessary.” Rae waited for some kind of noise or acknowledgment from Trasst before going back to continue the runes.<br/>
Trasst gives a short, slow nod in response before roughly running his fingers through his hair and leaning on the wall behind him. He stayed silent as his gaze moved back over the bodies, this time staring for a few moments before speaking again. “Are you afraid of dying?”<br/>
Rae stops her writing again, but this time only for a few seconds before she continues. “I have made my peace with death, my own included. Death is simply another aspect of life. Everyone, everything, no matter how powerful, will one day die. In my line of work it can be helpful to understand and accept that.” Trasst shifted his weight again in an attempt to get comfortable on the hard crate. He began to idly massage his left hand as a means of distraction.<br/>
“Didn’t you say you worked on the Seabreeze? Is seafaring that dangerous?” His voice came out clearer this time.<br/>
“Yea, about that… It was a lie." Rae looks up from her writing for only a second before continuing, "I’m really sorry about that. I do know the crew on the Seabreeze, but I'm not employed by them. The truth is, I needed the information on those papers, and I doubt you would have just let me read them if I had asked forthrightly.”<br/>
“Oh…” Trasst says softly, “That makes sense…” His eyes stayed locked on his hands. “What… Is it exactly that you do then?”<br/>
Rae gave a slight smirk. She stands and walks over to another section of floor, once again squatting before continuing to write. “We are mercenaries, of a type. Somebody needs a job done, and we are hired to see it to completion. Can be any variety of things. Like tomorrow, we are leaving the city for some weeks to help protect a caravan as it travels.”<br/>
“Right… When you say 'We,' do you mean you, Ace, and Blackwood? Or...”<br/>
"We promised you adventure if you helped us out, so of course you can tag along if the job sounds interesting to you. I can't imagine it will be too difficult, but I'm sure at least one interesting thing will happen along the way."<br/>
Trasst's face brightens with a slight smile, pleased at the answer. He gives a single short nod and a noise of acceptance in response.</p>
<p>A few more minutes passed before Trasst spoke again. “Was it fast? Y’know… When you...” His gaze now moved from his hands to a point on the wall, however, he still mindlessly fussed with his own hands and fingers.<br/>
“We made it as quick as possible. vampires are incredibly deadly, so he still put up a good fight. But, it was obvious he was not within his right mind. He was holding back, but his body was not under his control. He didn’t want this for himself.”<br/>
“Is that why he killed everyone else?” Trasst’s voice came out almost too calm. Rae was taken aback for a moment, but made the assumption that this was simply how Trasst was processing everything now that the chaos was over.<br/>
“In a way,” she started, “vampires need to feed on the blood of living creatures to survive. It is an unstoppable hunger. It probably took a lot of willpower for him not to kill you before we showed up… It was probably intentional you were the last one alive.” Trasst goes still as his muscles stiffen, his head buzzing slightly again with the realization. <i>That’s why he didn’t talk to me… That’s why he hid… To keep me alive…</i> He sniffles again, roughly wiping his nose with his wrist and blinking some small tears from his eyes once more.</p>
<p>Trasst huffs out a breath as he hops down from the crate he was sitting on, pathing over to Rae to get a better view. The next time he speaks his voice comes out slightly shakier than before, “So, what exactly are you doing?” He dries the rest of his tears as he begins to watch over Rae’s shoulder. She continues to write without looking up, “These runes help to bless the bodies, keep them from returning as undead.”<br/>
“Seems a little late for that at this point.”<br/>
“It will stop it from happening again.”<br/>
“What's the smelly stuff for?”<br/>
“Some plants or herbs have different properties when burned. Though if I'm entirely honest, these mostly just make being around the dead for any extended period of time more pleasant. Helps to hide the smell of decay.”<br/>
Trasst gives a bit of a nod, continuing to put his focus on the softly glowing runes and symbols. He watches as Rae finishes the remaining symbols in the large nearly-square shape around the bodies. She gets to her feet and walks back to the table where her components were left, Trasst following only a few paces behind. She pulls a small leather-bound book from a canvas wrapping, giving it along with a vial to Trasst, “Here.” The vial was filled with a thinly ground white powder and the covers on the book were soft from years of use. The halfling looks over the two items, confused. “What’s this for?” he asks, his gaze flipping between the two items in quick succession. Rae points to the vial “That’s salt,” her hand turns to the book, “And that is a prayer book. There are rites you should read while dusting the salt over the bodies. The pages with funeral rites are marked with yellow edges. Find one or a few that speak to you.” Trasst puts the vial down to use both his hands to flip through the book, "What's the salt for?" his eyes don't break from the book as he speaks.<br/>
"In a divine aspect, salt is considered a holy and pure material, making it good for protection spells and spells which ward against evil. In the physical, salt helps to dehydrate and desiccate bodies. Makes it more difficult for them to be reanimated." Rae spoke in a calm but matter-of-fact tone. It was clear this was all old practice for her, familiar over the years of doing the same rites for others. </p>
<p>Trasst finds the pages Rae spoke about, glancing over them as he quickly read. Rae leans down slightly to look over his shoulder at the pages he stopped at, "Anything pop out at you yet?" she asks. Trasst made a small sound of acknowledgment but didn't respond as he continued reading. After a moment he speaks, not taking his eyes off the book, "Which… Which God is yours?"<br/>
"The Matron of Ravens. If you're looking for those it will be the pages edged with black ink."<br/>
"What does she do?"<br/>
"She's a god of life and death. Simply put, she helps to protect souls and ferry them to the next life." With that, Trasst was quick to flip to the black-lined pages as he begins to read again. Rae can't help but give a small smile and an amused chuckle, "You can pick any of the other gods if they suit you more. Most people don't like the Matron much."<br/>
"Why's that?" He looks up from the book. Rae straightens her posture and stands upright once more. She keeps one hand crossed over her midsection, her other hand motioning slightly as she spoke. "People believe her to be uncaring or indifferent about the living, if not causing death where she walks. People hear God of Death and get frightened. They misunderstand her purpose and the domain she resides over.<br/>
”She’s helped me save more lives then I’ve taken, many times over. It’s not that she is uncaring for the living, but she simply embraces the dead.”<br/>
Trasst’s finger taps on the cover of the book lightly, thinking for a few moments as his gaze passes over the dead bodies once more. His eyes rest on the body of Volkan again, “Would… Would she have helped Volkan pass over?”<br/>
“He was cared for in his last moments. I gave him a blessing as he passed. The Matron hears my words and would accept him with open arms, if that helps to ease your mind a bit.” Trasst hesitates for a moment, his eyes pulling away from the bodies and resting on Rae before he slowly nods.  He is quick to wipe a few more tears from the corners of his eyes with another sniffle before looking back to the small book, mindlessly flipping to another page but not reading yet. “Well… I’ll pick a few in case some of them were faithful to other gods. But... Do… Do you think you could do your usual rite so I could see how it’s done?... And then I think I’d like to do the others.” Rae gives another smile and a nod, “Sure. I’ll finish setting up the ritual space while you read. Let me know when you’ve found a few you like and we can get started.”</p>
<p>With another silent nod Trasst takes the book and seats himself in the corner of the room, his back resting against the two walls for support. Rae watches Trasst take his seat before she walks back over to the components she had pulled from her bag, grabbing the small candles, and walking them to the bodies to place them on their respective runes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>+++</p>
<p>“By the will of the Lady of Winter, Egis of Life and Death, Matron of Ravens.<br/>
Grant to these souls of the departed your mercy and the peace of rest.<br/>
May these timeless souls be lifted from the grasp of undeath and be bathed in your warmth.<br/>
Relieve their essence from this mortal plane and ferry their lives unto the next.”</p>
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